Field ReportsFrancis Sentenced to Community Service inFlorida ‘Girls Gone Wild’ Case

By Thomas Haire ( thaire@questex.com)

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — On Dec. 13,
Florida U.S. District Court judge sentenced Mantra Films Inc. and “Girls
Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis — as
well as the company’s president, general counsel and chief financial officer
— to eight hours each of community
service per month for the next 30
months in addition to paying the $1.6
million in fines he agreed to in a plea
deal that was announced on Sept. 12.
Francis settled separate charges in a
California U.S. District Court for
$500,000, but faces possible additional
sentencing in that case on Jan. 22.

U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak
added the community service to the
sentence because he did not believe
that the fines would be a meaningful

For more than
24 years

punishment. According to an Associated Press report, the $1.6 million fine
represents less than 3 percent of
Mantra’s profits since 2002. “It does
not take a very brave man to go out
and corner a girl in the middle of
spring break who had four drinks,”
Smoak told Francis, according to the
AP.

Smoak added that Francis could remove his corporate officers from their
community service obligations under
the sentence by performing 16 hours
per month himself during the next 30
months. Francis’ attorney Aaron Dyer
said he was unsure whether Francis
would take that option, according to
the AP.

Francis and his company, Mantra

Films Inc., reached these settlements
with the U.S. Justice Department in
separate cases in California and Florida that resulted in a series of guilty
pleas on Sept. 12 to charges of violating federal child sexual exploitation
laws and federal record-keeping and
labeling laws for sexually explicit materials. In a statement at the time,
Francis admitted that footage of minors involved in sexual activities appears in at least two of the company’s
DVDs.

Francis avoided the possibility of a
prison term by reaching these settlements. In a September statement,
Francis said, “We regret that this occurred and will make sure that no
other minors are used in ‘Girls Gone
Wild’ films.” When contacted by
Response for this story, a spokesman for
Francis offered no further comment.

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